Fly Fishing, Fly Tying, and Favorite Places.
"Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19

Monday, April 18, 2011

Water Water Everywhere

We are experiencing a pretty severe drought in Texas. The governor has requested a disaster declaration for the entire state due to recent brush and wildfires.

Utah on the other hand has a different problem. The snow melt combined with recent rains has swelled area rivers to the max.

I headed out to the beehive state on a work trip today with my ultralight and a weak expectation that I might get to visit an old friend in the near Midway. It was raining in the Salt Lake valley and snowing on Parley's Summit but once I got over the Wasatch the sky began to lighten up and hope began to grow.

I remember the first time I saw this sign and every time thereafter I'm thankful for Ken Probst and his generosity towards fishermen like me.

You can tell from this shot that it has been raining pretty steady here for some time.

The big swirly hole was full of runoff and rainwater and the flow was strong.

I tied on a baby brown trout Panther Martin and began searching the pool for my friend Mr. Brown. I caught several feisty fish in the 8-12" range but couldn't seem to locate "the one".

I soon took off downstream and tried the spinner in the smaller pools and runs along the way but to no avail.

The vegetation was not only present on the bottom of the creek but it was floating free which added a whole new degree of difficulty.

I crept along the lower end of the creek trying to blend in to the landscape but this flock of Yellow Headed Blackbirds made such a fuss I think every fish in the creek must have wondered what was up.

I picked up another small brown then finally found "the one" I was looking for. This hefty 18 incher put up a great fight on the ultralight.

I was really missing my photographer by now so I had to revert to the long armed fish picture.

I fished my way back upstream to the big riffle hoping to snag a rainbow. I fished hard near the tailout and had a couple of hits but couldn't seem to connect.

I finally worked my way back upstream to the big swirly hole only to find that someone else had claimed the spot. We had a nice chat and I decided to head in. I know it's hard to imagine me quitting with at least an hour of daylight left but sometimes you have to be satisfied with a successful outing even if you don't fish till dark.

Besides - there are road hazards to consider this time of year! Better to see these in the daylight than crossing the highway in the dark.